KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:

As you know, Coachella has enough going on to keep it pretty balanced. But just a little farther south in the inland empire, there are some pretty goofy radicals playing out in the desert. I imagine a lot of those people feel pretty justified/emboldened by the current political climate.

 Red_Dragon wrote: Here in the Coachella Valley?
Here I thought the only problem we had were slow moving snowbirds.

One person killed after explosion outside fertility clinic; police say act was ‘intentional’

 kurtster wrote:

If you ever had any kind of enlightenment,  your entire history here implies that you ran screaming from it.

Like most of your rhetoric,  this post is laughably disingenuous. 

 kurtster wrote:
Perhaps. I’m having cataract surgery on both eyes in July.  ðŸ¤£

Not sure my point’s any different, Forrest. 🤔

 Steely_D wrote:

Yeah, he should say what means and stuff, ya know?

 kurtster wrote:

Pretty sure those are two different experiences as reviewed here, not convinced that comparing them is apple:apples or that it's pertinent to the topic to begin with.

 buddy wrote: 
I said MACRODOSING.

You need glasses or better reading comprehension or both

 kurtster wrote:

 True.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Look, you say I am enamored by MAGA.  I have never said that at any level.  Go and look.

My thing with Trump is first and foremost, the border.  I am resigned to take the rest that comes with the package.  Granted, I agree with a lot of it but not all of it.  Doesn't matter because no one believes 100% the same as the person they voted for. But y'all sure do make that 100% projection on me.

Nothing Trump has done so far scares me.  I'm waiting to see what he gets done before I have much to say.

I don't really know how to actually have a conversation with an uninvolved foreigner whose whole basis of understanding the US is a summer in SF many years ago.  First, SF is nowhere near like the rest of the country.  Secondly, you think socialism is the answer for the world's problems.  Thirdly, because of past chemtrails discussions, you think I am completely out of my mind and have no relationship with any reality.  We do not intersect anywhere.

 kurtster wrote:
Calling BS on this one. Microdosing in the 1960's was extremely rare outside the supervision in a medical lab, certainly not readily available to a kid in middle school or early high school. I'm not inexperienced in this area, believe me. Taking a half tab of street window pane is hardly microdosing. 

You're right, I'm not interested in the Forrest Gump version of your life you often put out here.

 kurtster wrote:
So, when would you place the approximate date on your own sell-out?

 kurtster wrote:

He’s actually in the category with the plantation slave owners: what he has comes from the work of others. No innate talent of his own.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

bump

K. if you are so free of the plastic world, why are you so enamoured of MAGA which is about as plastic as it gets.  Or do you seriously think this is just some kind of meta joke making fun of real achievement by faking it?  

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
You've / you all have been taken in by a system of artificial values to aspire to.  

I learned back in the early 70's that it was a crock of shit and decided not to play the / that game.  I went my own way instead and have stayed on that course the best I could ever sense.  Seriously.

A 60's synonym for hollow would be plastic. That was the "plastic" world described back then, something to stay far, far away from if you valued your soul.  The ultimate payoff would be disappointment.   Joining that world was termed selling out in those days.  Those who tried to do both were called weekend warriors and that usually did not end well for those warriors because they would get caught up in the games and lies they had to use in order to survive in the straight uptight world.

Awhile back someone posted a thing about corporate retreats that engaged in microdosing lsd.  And the end results of these retreats were that many execs and CEO's simply up and quit and changed their lives completely focusing on indulging themselves instead of whoring themselves.  I did macrodosing beginning in the 60's and reached the same conclusions back then which I mentioned above.

As I said, you're late to the party.  We are talking about the same thing, but you just cannot see it.

I could go on, but meh, y'all are in a different reality and have no interest in my POV.  

 kurtster wrote:
This is another example of you living in a world of fairy tales and the 1950s.

~70% of the 100 wealthiest people in the US are self-made.  Trump is older than much of the list, and attended a military boarding school and an Ivy League college before joining the family business.  He's not super-rich because he's not good.  Most of the list is there because they started something that grew into a household brand during a time when equity awards overcompensated everyone.  

Old money today is the Walton kids... who are busy spending Sam's money.  They went public in 1970.

Islander is 100% on target with Trump and his desire to be in a club that laughs at him.  Even now that he's President.  The difference is that they can use his desire to belong for their own benefit.   That $400M gift that he's taking with him when he leaves the White House.... The folks on the Arabian peninsula can't believe how cheaply he can be had.  They wipe their asses with that kind of money... American's are stupid giving that guy a second chance!

If you want to see Trump's inferiority play out in another arena.... talk about golf.  He's better than average, but would want you to believe he's elite.  He's not, and has a history of cheating.   About 30 years ago, he was desperate to be invited to join Pine Valley.  It's often ranked as the best course in the world, and Trump made outrageous offers to members that would get him into the club.  I've known a few dozen members... this isn't hearsay. 

To prove his "worth", Trump purchased the closest golf course to Pine Valley.... Pine Hill.  It was a ski hill when I was growing up, converted to a golf course in the 80s.  It's nice, but it's not Pine Valley.  If you ask Trump, I'm sure he'll tell you it's better.   He hates that he can't be part of elite society, but they frown on promotion, displays of wealth, and obvious assholes.

Trump is new money, because he lost the old money a few times before finding a way to grift his way back.  Now he's bankrupting the country in an attempt to be one of the gang.

 kurtster wrote:
yes. try again:




ok. to avoid being too snotty about this: I'm not blaming the elites here or entrenched class systems. We are each and every single one of us responsible for the values we live by and can freely set our course through life. You can be monk, a porn star, a pope, a Trumpette, a misogynist beast, a reliable co-worker, a good friend, a fraud, or whatever else you choose. But it is your own responsibility and your choice. You have to stand by it and not pass the buck. No matter where you start and no matter how much or how little progress you make, you can at least choose the direction you want to take. That is the fundamental freedom each of us has. You can choose to be good or choose to be an arsehole. And if you f-up you can stand up and take the heat or run away and hide. It's your choice.
I've been in contact with all levels in society. I started here as the proverbial dishwasher. Later, due to teaching English, I had clients from all levels of society right through to the top industrialists in the country and kids of Germany's elite and top bureaucrats. I had a friend who was born into the aristocracy and took me to all sorts of posh do's in Stuttgart's cultural scene. Via my family I sometimes get to meet celebs, most of whom I don't even know. In fact it is best not to know. They too are just people. Some of the elite are genuinely nice people. Some are arseholes.

On this scale, social status means absolutely nothing. The one thing that sets the good people apart from the arseholes is empathy. The ability and strength of character to realise that where you born, the riches you make, the misfortunes that befall you are all primarily down to fortune. The worst types are the insecure ones who struggle to make it and look down at anyone below them in the pecking order. You meet these types at all levels of society. The best ones are those who can mix at any level. The happiest guy I ever met said he never thought about himself on principle.

So, that is why I think chasing after social status is hollow. And your mate Trump is a perfect example of just how hollow it is.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
You say that you work to attain certain levels expecting a reward of some sort and then find that "they" won't give it to you; they won't let you into their club.

That they will not see you as a peer or worthy.  The glass ceiling, etc.

Did I get that wrong ?

This is the same as the resentment of the old money vs the Nouveau Riche.  Just a more recent incarnation of the same old story.

And to address a remark below, yes Trump would fall into the Nouveau Riche category in the sense that is being considered.

 islander wrote:

How many other people really want his business advice besides Eric and Don Jr? That’s a barometer right there.

 islander wrote:
not sure they have ever got much right tbh.   { ensuing sermon deleted }

/ok back to earthquakes